What is LEED?

LEED+ LEED is a wonderful standard that is being adopted worldwide to support the building industry to build green.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) LEED AP is an accreditation of professionals. Buildings are “designated” green, people are accredited LEED AP. The LEED AP is a US Green Building Council accreditation registration. In addition, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), provides a set of standards for the environmentally sustainable design, construction and operation of buildings and neighborhoods. the USGBC has stated support for the Architecture 2030, an effort that has set a goal of using no fossil-fuel, greenhouse gas-emitting energy to operate by 2030.

Since its inception in 1998, the USGBC has grown to encompass more than 14,000 projects in the United States and 30 countries covering 1.062 billion square feet or over 98 million square meters of development area. LEED was created to accomplish the following:

Define “green building” by establishing a common standard of measurement
Promote integrated, whole-building design practices
Recognize environmental leadership in the building industry
Stimulate green competition
Raise consumer awareness of green building benefits
Transform the building market

USGBC members, representing every sector of the building industry, developed and continue to refine LEED. The rating systems address eight major areas:

Location and Planning
Sustainable Sites
Water Efficiency
Energy and Atmosphere
Materials and Resources
Indoor Environmental Quality
Innovation and Design Process
Regional Priority

In LEED 2009 there are 100 possible base points plus an additional 6 points for Innovation in Design and 4 points for Regional Priority. Buildings can qualify for four levels of certification:

Certified – 40 – 49 points
Silver – 50 – 59 points
Gold – 60 – 79 points
Platinum – 80 points and above

LEED for New Construction and Major Renovations version 2.2 contained the same credits as the new NC v2009, but had fewer points. There are 69 possible points and buildings can qualify for four levels of certification: